Night at the Mausoleum (Promo Thread)

[Zacharia]

With the groups of Rebels pouring in from all over the country, it really felt like they were getting somewhere. Not a year ago was their force just another group of fools waiting to be put down by the Illians. But now..but now, they had filled up a manor with people. No small feat indeed. And with Kelvin and Aidan around, they were going to see this through to the end, be that end victory or defeat. But he had to push those thoughts from his mind; with the arrival of the new generals a few familiar faces had popped up. And the man he was going to see was the one he was most familiar with.

Zacharia rapped on the door sharply, the old man's ears weren't what they used to be and they could have only gotten worse in his time away from his hometown. "Come in," the old teacher called to Zach from outside. "Master Boryn, How have you been? It's been ages." he chirped as he nearly slammed the door shut. "It's good to see you so well, Sjord. I feared the worst when you had left your home. Your master was in. . .quite the uproar about it." Just like the last time they had met face to face, Boryn's desk was covered in papers, spellbooks, and all sorts of trinkets. It hadn't even been a week since the old general's arrival and he had managed to make quite the mess for himself. "Khayri? Oh...I had nearly forgotten about her. Is she alright?" "It would be difficult to explain without the full tale of what has happened," he croaked. "Please, have a seat."

Though his original teacher Boryn was a friendly elder, his 'stories' were lethal to listen to. He gulped as he plopped down in a wooden chair adjacent to the old man. "Let's see now, where to begin..Oh yes! Right then. You had left?" Zacharia nodded in agreement. "Well then, you had left. You know how you children are, always gossiping, haha! Once word got out that you had left for the Rebellion, the children at school started to...segregate from each other. The ones who supported Illia versus the ones who supported Bern; Miss Khayri did little to nothing to help put aside this squabble for knowledge's sake. It was relatively tame at first, of course, but then there were fights in the halls, students started to lay traps for one another...even the teachers themselves joined the madness - Khayri did nothing to stop the madness, as you know how her allegiances to her home country of Illia are. As the weeks went by and tensions were starting to snap, the school turned into a...it turned into a warzone one day. Teachers and students lying dead in the hallways; it did a number on this old soul. Madame Khayri left in the middle of the chaos, her whereabouts I am not aware of. I am glad you were spared from this madness, as I speak the school's been quarantined for months. Magic energy had been leaking out of every crevice by the time the living had evacuated. The corpses, oh, Elimine...they had gotten up and started to roam the corridors. I consider myself a lucky man to have escaped with my life both times. Of course, this was all within the first few months of your departure. I gathered up the remaining magical assets still loyal to Bern over the next five moons, and here I am now. Old and grey, and the leader of a group hundreds strong. As a boy, I never fancied myself an army commander, you know. But that was well over a hundred and fifty years ago."

Though it was the hardest he ever fought to stay awake, Zacharia found himself dreading every next word. This was his fault it had happened, wasn't it? You could see the guilt written all over his face. Boryn lifted an eyebrow. "Do not worry, this would have come to be sooner or later," he hacked as he cleared his throat again. "Children have been growing up so fast lately, you know? First they're poking each other with wooden swords and next they're slaughtering each other in droves. Like you. It's all too terrible for this faint grey heart." "Well, I guess I should be grateful that I wasn't around to see this happen." He was glad he was lucky, many weren't - Aidan's words came into his thoughts yet again. "Is there anything I could do now?" Zacharia asked with pleading in his voice.

Boryn stroked his beard in the same way he always did when he pondered things. "Nothing, save destroy the remains of the school. There are simply too many students - no, beasts - left to be dealt with for a young lad like yourself. Moving on would be the best course of action." he kept running his fingers through his beard, though. There must be something still left on his mind. Before the mage could voice his concerns out loud, Boryn spoke up again. "Well, there is one thing that could warrant sending you there. Unfortunately, in my haste to leave I had forgotten something in my quarters. A gift for you in fact; I was going to give it to you when you were ready to handle it. Like that of a graduation gift."

[Zacharia]

"A new spellbook? Those are so rare in Bern, though!" He caught himself for badmouthing the old man for forgetting something that Zacharia himself valued very highly. Boryn had been through quite a lot recently, he could empathize with that much at the least. "Erm-hem. Yes, that. I gave up studying dark magic long ago, and discovered it in a cupboard not much longer after I started teaching you. You hardly came up to my torso when you first started to learn, you know? Yours was quite the growth spurt." Zach reddened a little in embarrassment, despite being the only other person in the room. That had been what, seven years ago? He was still trying to come up with the tiniest bit of magical fire back then, before Khayri had come into the picture for him. She had been a part of the family for quite some time; not like a relative, but a good friend of his mother's ever since his mother's childhood. "I could go and get it myself, Commander Aidan wouldn't mind at all." he thought back to their talk out in the courtyard proper, when he was still covered in bandages. At least now he only had bandages covering part of his torso rather than the whole thing. Those bruises and stitches would take quite a bit longer to heal than his shallow cuts and scrapes, unfortunately. "You're only one boy, Zacharia. Those beasts, despite being your former classmates, would tear you apart with their unnatural strength now." Zach felt a little more indignant now. "I'll find a way to get past them; I've survived a year in battle, doesn't that say anything?" Boryn sat back up in his chair again, completely unperturbed despite the pupil's rude comment.

"It says to me that you're too valuable of an asset to your group for me to willingly send you off on a lone - likely perilous - journey. Kids these days." he sighed. He probably shouldn't have mentioned that last part about the book. Boryn was adamant on not being the one to tell Zacharia's mother that her son had died in battle. Besides that, the young man had been like the great-grandson he never had. And now that he had mentioned this book, he seemed just as deadset on getting his hands on it as Boryn was for convincing him not to go. "Wait, I never properly graduated, did I? I never passed the final exams. So, what if I were to go there and return with your book as my final 'test'? I'm sure I could do this." The old man looked at Zacharia thoughtfully. "You're going to go regardless of what I say, aren't you?"

"H-how did you know? I could've sworn it wasn't so obvious." Zach stammered. Boryn looked as amused as an old bag of wrinkles like himself could look. "It was just a guess, child! Ha-haha, it seems I've still got it in me after so very long." At the very least, it cleared the air between them. "...If you really are deadset on going, I wouldn't dare to send you off without my blessing. So I'll agree to this test you're talking about." Reaching into the bottom drawer of his desk, he started rummaging through the little bits and bobbles he brought with him. His obsession with little magic trinkets was legendary among students and graduates alike. Eventually, he brought out a dull-colored ring with a dark gem embedded in it. "Take this," he said as he pressed it into Zacharia's hands. "When you put it on, it gives off a temperature that resembles your body heat. My wife used to own this, you know. It's of little use to anyone but you right now. I own its only match, see." he said as he gleefully held up the identical ring on his left hand. "I paid a jeweler to create them, then I enchanted them myself; many years ago. It's quite the novel item, you know! Keep it on, and I'll know if you're alive and well. You'll know that I'm alright likewise, but you shouldn't concern yourself about my health. I'm as strong as an ox and fit as a fiddle underneath this old skin!" Still bewildered, he put the ring on and immediately the black gem tinted into a lovely red-violet color. "If - no, when. When I come back, do you think you could teach me how to do this? This is...wow." He had no idea such a trick was possible. "Anything you want to know and more, when we have spare time of course. All this paperwork to do before I'll truly be rang in as a Rebellion general. I imagined more fighting by now; but that's likely to come in the near future." 

"Yes, the future! I'll uh -" he stood up and promptly walked into the door. "Ow. I'll go get packed; it was great talking to you again, teacher, and I'll be back as soon as I can!" the student managed to open the door and then slammed it shut before taking off down the corridor. There was no time to lose, he had to be ready for when Illia decided to knock on their door.

"Make sure you come back, 'strategist', or I'll never hear the end of it!"

[Zacharia]

So he packed the largest bag of supplies and the largest canteen he could carry and set off in the wee hours of the morning. There would be less activity to be stopped by so late at night with everyone snoring in their tents and on their cots. He would've woken Aidan but it was known by his closest how fitfully he slept. Better to let sleeping Bernese dogs lie. It took some doing to convince the guards to open the portcullis so late at night, especially since their troops and thus, patrolers were no longer only Daniel's soldiers. But soon enough Zacharia was down the path and out of sight from Macendew. It was a foolish idea, and one under normal circumstances he would never attempt - much less hope to come back alive from - but he pressed on anyway. With his giddiness at new spells coupled with his guilt for his school, he felt urged onwards. Monsters didn't hinder his path once - strangely. A week's journey was covered in nearly four days. and his feet hated him for it. It didn't help that his clothes kind of started to reek of earth and other... less pleasant odors at the end of those long days of travel. There was simply nothing he could do for it save washing them in every river he passed.

On the fifth day he was traveling. he met Elesia. Definitely the strangest character he had ever known and would know in the future. He was sure he saw the sun rise and fall and the shining ball of energy hadn't finished talking. Fortunately, monsters had ambushed a group separate from theirs and had them on the ropes. Turned out his companion was quite the powerful magi along with a powerful set of lungs. It was admittedly, better than hearing her chatter on for two more nights straight, but they singlehandedly wiped out the pack of monsters while everyone else stared in awe. Elesia did most of the work, admittedly, but the gang of farmers didn't seem to think any less of either of them for saving their bacon.

Later that night Elesia, Zach, and the group of men who were still alive licked their wounds and gathered around the campfire. The pair talked about many things. Mainly the rebellion, magic, and quite a bit of the girl's backstory where he managed to not zone out the rest of her tales. Instead, they managed to put the both of them to sleep. Meanwhile, the farmers discussed their next moves. The blue mage spoke of being with the rebellion, did he? The leader of the mens' face twisted into a frown as he remembered his peaceful and out of the way village being crushed under the heel of the blasted conflict between the Rebels and Illia. If he was gonna get any headway in his revenge plan to destroy both, he would have to start small - with silent assassination. Before he could murder Elesia in cold blood she turned the place into a madhouse with bodies flying everywhere - and with Zacharia's cape, off into the night.

In a manner of minutes they staved off the small handful of men. He wasn't sure how they did it, but they managed to get some decent sleep the rest of the night without monsters or madmen attacking from any which way. And not long after they looted the corpses' supplies they went on their separate ways, Elesia going off to find that Hal and Zach back on his merry way. He had a feeling she would be okay, she seemed like a person able to improvise on the spot.

It felt weird having no one to listen to again, but he managed to make do all the way up towards his home town. Six and a half days of travel on foot; eat your heart out Kelvin. When home came up on the horizon he sprinted, for as long and hard as he could. Of course, his body overran his brain soon after and he collapsed on the middle of the path. He laid there and just let the hours pass by before he dared to get up again.

[Zacharia]

He didn't quite remember the journey properly, but somewhere in the evening he managed to pick himself up and stumble into the town. After that, everything completely blurred out into dreams. Dreams of the past, the future, and many other places and times that he would never have the chance to experience in his one life. He felt sad that he would never truly get to know the people and places in his head, but it certainly beat never knowing about them at all. And these many things were completely forgotten by the time he woke up. He looked around; back in his old room. Which was nearly empty; there was something that really made him feel sad. But he had no time to dwell here, he was on a mission for his book! He tapped on his new ring a few times, to reassure himself that he really was here for that. He could almost remember himself standing in this same spot a thousand times as a child, mimicking finger poses for magic, late at ni --

He quickly twisted the cork of his canteen off and dumped it on his face. NOW he was really awake. Ignoring the dust and cobwebs, he hustled out of his room and into the common area. Everything was exactly how he left it one year ago. He breathed in, and immediately regretted it as he coughed and hacked the dust out of his nose. He turned, rubbed his nose and set out for the outside. Before he could do that, however, a small stack of paper had been nailed to the door, but as far as he could tell it had been here as long as everything else. He ripped it off the pin and stuffed the memo into his bag. Since there was no time to read it now he would just have to look over it when he traveled back to Fort Macendew.

It took a few minutes, but he remembered the town like the back of his hand. Only, there were plenty more people here the last time he had checked. Maybe the stigma of the creatures and the rebellion had drove them off? It wasn't exactly a huge place, but there were always people going and coming from Bern's capital since its outskirts were less than a day or two's travel away on a fast horse. Even Illian soldiers would be a sight for sore eyes at this point. It was tough being surrounded by people for a year and then suddenly being a speck of sand in a ghost town. Whatever the case, Zacharia saw no one outside on a stroll, or roasting food, or any of those good scents he had come to know and love. They sure loved goat here, anyone could tell you that. Though his bag was still quite full of tough bread and mystery jerky, the young mage felt like he could murder for a home-cooked meal right about now. Home was certainly lacking in supply but maybe the inn would be a good place to try for someone or something to eat.

And the inn certainly didn't disappoint. Two old men were yakking on and on to each other about something trivial, and a bored-looking middle-aged woman cleaning the only glass in the entire building that wasn't spotless yet. While the elders totally disregarded Zacharia, the woman nodded him over. "Are you here for the academy? It's been ages since a face without a beard's been in here." Zach felt his face grow hot; even though he constantly shaved the peach fuzz away, there just wasn't anything growing yet. He wanted to have a super wizard beard, damn it! "I'm, yeah, yes. That is me. I'm here to get inside the school, do you know of any way in?" With a knowing sigh, the woman reached for the wall and grabbed a key attached to a simply massive keyring. "Don't ask me how many of these things are in there; you're lucky my pa's a locksmithy," she dismissively mentioned as she tossed the ring to him and he caught it with a gulp. Most were able to make it out alive, but they just simply couldn't defeat the tide of toddlers clinging to them. The only ones that hadn't made it out yet had fallen for the traps in the halls and were eventually mauled. At least, that's what she made of it. The keys weren't too pricey and her pa was always looking for work. "You might wanna go in with a team, y'know! Then you'll come back alive, kid!" A team? Where was he gonna get one of those? He didn't have the time back at the fort to wake up anyone from the Wolfpack Militia, much less warriors that didn't all fight crazy like Cyril.

[Zacharia]

He decided to wander through the town and look for anyone strong enough to join him. The sad part was everything was exactly the same as it was when he was last here. Even Bern's capital city had renounced his home, even though they were practically a pit stop for the capital. All this because of him? Well, no. He couldn't keep thinking like that. Boryn himself had said it wasn't even his fault. It just would've happened eventually. When would that eventually have happened? Whatever the case he would be dead if he had stuck around, and that wasn't a very patriotic way to serve his kingdom.

He stopped for lunch in the middle of the street; partly because it would make him more visible and partly because he could. The northern breeze certainly felt nicer than a stuffy old tavern, even if it meant he would miss out on potential recruits. He pondered the idiom he was thinking of in-between bites of hard bread with canteen water drizzled on it. "Stop and smell the roses, right? I think that's the one." It was a silly phrase despite hearing it countless times. There...weren't actually any flowers - much less roses - in sight. Come to think of it, Bern wasn't really big on decoration. That was more of an Etrurian thing than any other country. As far as he heard, they had quite the penchant for decking themselves in all sorts of ridiculous baubles. They looked gorgeous but it must've been a challenge to move when you had like, twenty pounds worth of precious silks and minerals on top of you.

With a stick in one hand and his lunch in the other, he began drawing a map in the dirt on the road. There was no sense going into this mess unprepared, especially if people much stronger than him had managed to get their butts kicked. "Okay," he began talking out loud. His voice reverberated along the road both ways, but who cared? There wasn't anyone around to listen and he quite liked the sound of a voice when there wasn't anyone around. "Let's say there's a hundred monsters in there, since there were maybe two hundred and fifty students to begin with. And Boryn's quarters are on one side of the school. That's where that new spellbook is, yes. So I'll need to either defeat them or out-maneuver them. Those creeps don't corner well, and the school's full of tricks and turns." Much like the town he knew the school like the back of his hand. To be fair, he had nearly ten years to explore the place from top to bottom. Unfortunately, there were no secret passages. It was quite the mundane place even if it housed so many beasts at the moment. "Speaking of tricks, me, there may be traps left if the zombies haven't triggered them all. Hm..So, if I can manage to out-maneuver the traps and zombies, and get to the book, how will I get out? ...Hmmm. Boryn's got a window, but that will definitely be boarded up and sealed. I'll need to break it open with magic if push comes to shove."

The makings of a plan to get in and out were growing in his head. He might actually be able to pull it off, but he needed another person to watch his back at the least. Ultimately he decided to head back to the inn. He would wait a few hours at best, then head back home and rest until the late hours of the night. It really wouldn't matter when he went into the school, since it would likely be pitch black regardless of daylight. So, he scarfed down the rest of his bread, crossed out the plan he was working on, threw the stick to the wayside, and started walking back towards the inn.

[Deleted]

Well... it was definitely a building. Vergil honestly wasn't sure if he was disappointed or relieved to not have it covered in bandits or dripping blood from every crevice or any of the even weirder ideas his mind had helpfully provided along the way. It just looked like... an inn. To understate the obvious. He kinda glanced at Grimm, not sure what to say, and cautiously walked towards the door. There were people inside, going by the sound, and it didn't... sound like there was any super serious fighting or murdering or carousing going on inside, so it probably wasn't bandits.

Gesturing to Grimm to follow him, the novice swallowed deeply and opened the door, stepping into a scene that seemed completely out of place given how the rest of the town seemed to exist; life and light and sound, almost as if they were trapped in time. Unaware of the world without those four walls. Unless he was in some kinda crazy magic world, though, he suspected these were just the last people who stuck around. Fittingly, mostly old. Even if they weren't literally trapped in the past, it was a figurative truth, hm?

Satisfied with what was (to him) great wisdom, or at least something resembling coherent thought, he continued on into the area, sort of ignoring the people sitting throughout the tavern as he beelined to the lady at the counter. "Excuse me ma'am, what happened to the town? Where is everyone?"

[Grimm]

The building was strange, or at least was so normal it was strange. When Grimm saw it, he almost didn't know what to think. He was looking so forward to adventure form all of this, and yet nothing about what he saw screamed "Grand Adventure" at all. He was disappointed in a way. Even when he followed Vergil to the door of the place, it all seemed so average that it was almost the most spooky part of this ghost town. He turned to his beast, tying her up outside so that he could follow inside as well. Abroth gave no real protest for once, simply snorting and lying down.

He didn't have the realization Vergil did once inside either. Putting all the clues together wasn't really his forte, and even if it was the smell of food put all other thoughts out of his head. He quickly rushed to the woman as well, deducing enough that she was the one in charge here. When Vergil finished his questions, Grimm made sure to add a bit as well.

"And food, I mean. And if you have anything to eat I'll take it!"

Grimm spoke so fast it was almost a continuation of what Vergil had said without pause. He forgot just how hungry he really was until then. His voice had a different less cautious tone then Vergil's as well. Seeing such a normal place made Grimm feel at ease, enough to almost forget that he was even in a ghost town. Call it a childlike ignorance.

[Zacharia]

Zacharia was currently napping at the table foremost to the door. It had been well over two hours for any developments in his plan, and the old men arguing about who cheated who in a card game twenty years ago was almost cathartic after awhile. He had managed to find some amusement with magic shadow puppets early on, but when the old woman manning the bar started looking at him funny he figured it was time to stop. He had eventually ordered a plate of eggs which laid half-eaten and cold in front of him. ...For some reason, hoards of Elesias with the heads of cats had invaded his dreamlands, and they were winning against the separate but equally dangerous hoard of dragons with lightning. The ground was splitting apart and rain came down as fire. He wasn't really sure if this was some sort of nightmare or not to be honest. But whatever it was, it was way too enthralling to bother waking up from. So he slumped there like a dope and completely disregarded the pair that just walked in.

"We got eggs, we got goat, kid. It goes ten for one, nineteen for both. We don't have much else since no one's around to grow crops no more. They all up and left months ago." She looked the newcomers up and down before her eyes dropped to Vergil's sheathe "But you look handy with that sword of yours, so I'm guessing you're here cause you heard what happened in the school building." She really hoped these kids coming and going weren't the only interesting thing to happen today. Aside from soldiers patrolling - which was a very loose term nowadays - from the capital they were the only guests all week. The old men never got up to go to bed. No small wonder those two could talk for hours and hours about trivial things. "Though, if you sit down for a while I'll cook you both something free of charge." She gestured to where Zach had fallen asleep on top of his eggs. "You could keep that one company, he seems...friendly. Mentioned looking for some mercenary types like yourself to take the job earlier. You three could work out a deal or something."

[Deleted]

The mention of "what happened to the school building" set off more than a few alarms in Vergil's mind - he didn't have to be all that bright to get the idea that something bad had happened there, something bad enough to rip an entire town apart and drive its populace away. It could be a good job opportunity... but it also probably meant trouble, maybe a whole lot more than he was ready for.

He laid his hand on the hilt of his blade, willing the cold steel to lend him strength. It was silly to expect anything from an inanimate object, but it helped give him a bit of piece of mind, if nothing else. "I'd appreciate that, ma'am. If we can do anything to help, we will." He was speaking for Grimm a bit, not really intentionally, but he sort of just assumed the other kid would want in on the adventure unless it was a straight up suicide mission. And hey, free food. Grimm was probably hungry enough to kill and eat Abroth at this point.

Leaving Grimm to decide what he wanted to do, while not-so-secretly hoping that his companion would follow along, Vergil quietly made his way over to the sleeping shaman Super Pupil, not really sure that sleeping face-first in a plateful of eggs was healthy but also feeling kinda bad about the prospect of waking the young woman up. ...Man? It was hard to tell with a hairstyle like that... and them being face down in their eggs.

After a moment of discomfiture, Vergil poked Zach in the side with about as much subtlety as a jet engine wrapped in an aircraft carrier, then dashed around the table at an impressive speed just in case the sleeping beauty happened to be a legendary assassin or a very easily surprised magic user, resuming his composure and sitting down across from Zach with carefully assumed calm. He could wait.

[Grimm]

"Free food!? Yeah!"

Grimm bowed in thanks, a little over reacting because of his empty stomach. He looked over at where she had mentioned, seeing the young man who was apparently interested in getting some help. Lucky for him, Grimm considered himself a mercenary now. Why not? It wasn't like he had to have some special permit for it. The idea of doing something mercenary like excited him anyways. He walked over to sit across from Zach, also not so subtly pulling Zachs plate of cold uneaten eggs toward himself. Zach didn't seem to be eating them, and even cold they looked super good. Again is stomach was making choices for him.

He waited for Zach to wake up from his slumber before he would speak. His voice was cheerful, but lack any apology for stuffing his face with Zach's leftovers. His words were a bit garbled as well, as his mouth was half full of egg.

"Hi, My name is Grimm. You were looking for mercenaries?"

He figured he would let Vergil do his own introduction. In fact, it was maybe better to let Vergil do most of the talking. Grimm wasn't always super good at this kind of thing anyways, and really didn't put two and two together about the school. His mind was other places. Like eggs.

[Zacharia]

"whhh-huh" A prodded Zach wiped the egg off his face as he sat up in his seat. But not before a massive yawn removed most of the whites stuck on his chin. He wiped his face on his sleeve and then realized he had guests with him. "Oh, hello," he yawned again. "Who are you, and- hey my eggs-- ehhh, you can keep those." He hoped that he didn't make them smell like his face since tall dark and handsome over there was tearing into them with gusto. And while old books and desperation was quite the peculiar scent, it wasn't a very good spice on food. "Oh, yes! I'm definitely looking for mercenaries. Are you mercenaries? Err, dumb question. I'm Zacharia, I am looking for mercenaries." Yes, the perfect icebreaker. Simply flawless. "Ugh, sorry, I'm still kind of asleep. This is kind of sudden, but I do need your help, and I would be willing to pay. Hold on a second."

He reached down into his bag and jimmied the contents around before procuring a pouch of gold. Rebelling wasn't just volunteer work, thank Gaea. He had been saving up for, well, private stuff, but he figured it was alright to break the bank every now and then. These were only half his savings as well. It helped that he looted every last pence Trevor's gang had, along with a small chunk of cash from the looted caravan last month. "How about..." he began as he sat up straight again. "I give you a quarter fraction each of what's in this bag, maybe." Was that a good amount? He sure hoped so, the bag was sizable enough. From what the middle-aged woman had said, he would need a team to go in that school. And help on a mission was priceless. He supposed what he had been saving for could wait another year or so anyway. "No, no - a third fraction! Does that sound alright?" Please sound alright.

[Deleted]

"I - uh." Vergil hesitated, looking between Zach and Grimm for a second as he tried to come up with an actual response that could match the what-the-heckness of this whole situation. Was Grimm raised in a barn-oh right silly question. He couldn't imagine those eggs being very sanitary, or delicious, right now. But to each their own.

Truthfully it was the offer of money he hadn't been expecting... or prepared for. Ironic, wasn't it? A mercenary who was too dumb to actually think about their earnings? But he had agreed to help without any discussion of money, and much like his interaction with Grimm earlier, it felt weird to accept a reward for help he had offered without asking for anything in return. "Relax, we're, uh, kinda new to this too. I'm Vergil, and this is - well, I guess he just introduced himself, heh." He laughed nervously. It was pretty obvious that he was no grizzled hardass, but there was also a sort of innocent honesty in his words that kept him from sounding like he was making fun of Zach... hopefully.

"I already agreed to help if there was anything I could do, so - I mean I don't really need the money, I think, a meal and a place to sleep overnight would be nice though." He smiled disarmingly, hopefully. "Why don't you tell us what the problem is and we can figure out where to go from there? The lady at the counter said something about whatever happened to the school being what drove the people away from the village, was it a bandit raid or something?"

[Grimm]

"Bandits would be fun."

Grimm said with a mouth full of eggs that were to him both delicious and not in the least bit gross. Then again, he spent a lot of his childhood scooping up wyvern poop from a barn floor. At the very least he didn't indulge in those rotten apples that Abroth enjoyed earlier. That was something. Kinda.

Listening to Vergil speak, Grimm leaned back in his chair. He nodded in agreement even though he wasn't really asked much. Vergil was a good man, and had the right mindset. It wasn't about money, it was about experience. Even if Grimm's mouth wasn't completely full with the now gone eggs, he would have agreed just the same. In honest, he was more curious about the entire situation then he was actually getting any type of money from anything. It would be nice to have this mystery solved. If he could have a part in resolving it he would be even more happy. Hopefully he would get that chance.

[Zacharia]

Zacharia's face fell when he remembered why he was here again. "Well, I don't think I can give you the full story right now. I could use some good rest as well. But, ahem, I'll try to sum it up since we're not really fighting bandits. Town split in two from the whole rebel stink going on - I'm a part of that, by the way - and so many corpses were left over that they turned into those creepy undead things. And they're all boarded up inside the school at the farside of town. I need to get in there and get something and come back alive. It's...a bigger task than I think it is, I think. But I can definitely give you a roof and a good night's sleep," he casually un-casually glanced to the woman manning the bar. She was in the back, frying up some goat and eggs. The audible exhale of relief after he realized what he just said and where he just said it was louder than it should've been.

"It's alright to be modest since money's kinda hard to come by sometimes. You never know if you'll need it." If they came back alive he would mention it again. He was certainly not in any hurry to throw money at strangers but it seemed part and parcel with something like this. Also he would feel real bad if he didn't do it. "You guys are sure you're alright with helping me on this, right? Like I said this is kind of sudden of me to ask so much from someone I just met." On closer examination they weren't quite the rough and tumble rogues his mind had made them out to be at first glance. There was no way either of them were older than he was. He was glad they were friendly and willing to work for free regardless.

[Deleted]

Well... that was definitely complicated! Vergil responded reflexively without thinking whatsoever, not at all unusual for him. "Oh yeah, there is some rebellion thing in Bern, isn't there?" ...Great. Talk to the two BERNESE guys, from BERN, one of whom just admitted to being in the rebellion (Rebellion? was it a proper noun? he wasn't sure), and admit you literally have no idea and don't care what their life mission is. "Um, sorry, I'm - not from around here. Kind of a wanderer." To say the least! But undead...

"I dunno what the proper term for those undead are, but Risen or something, right? I've seen them before." God almighty he had seen them before, Aria ended up dragging them into some WEIRD plac... actually no it was usually Jaden who convinced him to go along with them following her, almost getting killed, and having her rescue them from undead or bandits or monsters. Dammit Jaden. "I've never actually fought them before, but... that sounds like good training. If you honestly think we can get in and out alive, I'm game. Would be a good learning experience if nothing else, haha."

"And honestly..." he trailed off, kinda looking at Grimm while hoping the other guy didn't argue too much, this sounded kinda fun. "I took up this mercenary thing since I wanted to help people and train mostly, anyways. As long as I'm not starving to death, the pay doesn't really matter to me. I'll get my value from the experience itself. ...And you seem like you have enough problems already. Don't need more."